UK’s first second hand cookbook shop opens: ‘The excitement and satisfaction you get in the kitchen is worth every minute’

When Kris Otisons was training to be a pastry chef at Harvey Nichols in London he often spent his free weekends roaming around second-hand shops looking for cookbooks.

Fast forward a few years to 2013 and he had moved to Glasgow to open his own bakery, My Home Bakery, which there are now three of in the city.

Kris, who is originally from Latvia, employs 15 people and works with Freedom Bakery in support of their ex-offenders social enterprise programme.

The popular bakery quickly became known for its vegan mango and passion fruit cake, gluten-free orange cake, strawberry Bakewells and savoury pork and black pudding sausage rolls.

But then the pandemic hit and things became tricky. And like most other businesses, Kris is still feeling the ripple effects.

Pre-covid, his Hyndland premises in the West End, had a small sit-in area. But since then, Kris hasn’t felt it possible to reopen the space and has been at a loss for what to do with it. 

‘Our former seating area has gone unused since lockdown – the team and I kept talking about what we could do with the space to create something that would be truly useful for our local community,’ Kris says.

After some thought, they landed on the idea of a second hand cookbook shop – a place Kris hopes will inspire people to spend time together cooking for family and friends.

Home to 600 books, all priced at £4.99, it’s the UK’s first second hand cookbook shop.

All books have been donated or saved from the landfill by My Home Bakery founder, Kris Otisons and his team. 

‘When I was training to be a pastry chef in London all those years ago, I spent my weekends in second-hand shops looking for different cookbooks,’ Kris says.

‘I wanted to learn more about different techniques and find new recipes to share with my friends and family. 

‘Whether it’s a recipe from the old tried and tested cookbook passed down from my oma (my grandmother) or testing a new recipe from my all-time favourite chef – Mary Berry – the excitement and satisfaction you get during the time in the kitchen is worth every minute no matter the success of the end result. 

‘We can’t wait to hear about the delicious new experiment journeys our customers will embark on while testing out the new recipes from these pre-loved cookbooks.’

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